New Build Housing - All sectors

The new-build section of this document provides figures on the
number of homes started (when the foundations are begun) and
completed (when a building inspector deems the property
complete).

Figures are presented for homes built on privately led (referred
to throughout as private sector), local authority led (referred to
as local authority sector) and housing association led (referred to
as housing association sector) sites. For the private sector the
latest information available is for the quarter ending June 2016.
Whilst more up-to-date information is available for local authority
and housing association new builds, findings for these sectors are
mainly presented up to June 2016 to simplify comparisons between
sectors.

The figures have not been seasonally adjusted and so commentary
tends to compare the latest quarter with the same quarter the
previous year. To help with this, Quarter 2 figures (from April to
June) have been highlighted in the charts to allow easy comparison
over time. Some of the peaks in the number of starts in Quarter 1
(January to March) each year are due to large numbers of housing
association approvals being granted near the end of the financial
year.

Chart 1 (
see
here) shows the number of private sector, social sector and
total new homes completed each quarter since 2005, whilst Charts 2
and 3 (below) show annual and quarterly trends, respectively, in
starts and completions across all sectors.

Chart 2: Annual all sector new build starts and
completions, years to end June, 2006 to 2016

Charts 1 to 3 all clearly show the impact of the recession in
the second half of the last decade, with private sector led
completions in particular falling throughout 2008 and the start of
2009 (years to end June). Completions for all sectors fell more
gradually between 2010 and 2013, before increasing to 2014,
following which completions have been at similar levels for 2015
and 2016.

Trends to end June 2016

There were 3,973 new build homes completed between April and
June 2016; a 4% increase on the same quarter in 2015. This brings
the total for the year to end June 2016 to 15,991, up 4% (591
homes) compared to the 15,400 completed in the previous year.

There were 3,968 new build homes started between April and June
2016; 13% fewer than the same quarter in 2015. This brings the
total for the year to end June 2016 to 16,450 which is down by 4%
(681 homes) compared to the 17,131 homes started in the previous
year.

As Chart 4 shows, the rate of house building completions in
Scotland has been above that of England and Wales throughout the
2006 to 2016 period (years to end June). The rate of house building
completions in Scotland has been below that of Northern Ireland
between 2006 and 2013, after which the rates have been similar
although the rate in Northern Ireland was higher in 2016.

The 15,991 homes completed in Scotland in the year to end June
2016 equates to a rate of 30 per 10,000 population. This is the
slightly lower than Northern Ireland (32), but higher than the
equivalent rates in England (25) and Wales (22).

Chart 4: New house building as a rate per 10,000 population
for UK countries, years to end June, 2006 to 2016

Sub-national figures for the year to end June
2016

The information on new build housing in Scotland is collected
and published at local authority level. Map A, below, shows new
house building in the year to end June 2016, as a rate per 10,000
population.

In the year to end June 2016 the highest new build rates were
observed in Midlothian, Aberdeenshire, Perth & Kinross, East
Renfrewshire and Stirling. The lowest rates were observed in Argyll
& Bute, Angus, Dumfries & Galloway, East Ayrshire and North
Lanarkshire.

Map A: New build housing - all sector completions: rates
per 10,000 population, year to end June 2016